1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of antennae, and particularly, to means of remotely and automatically optimizing field antennae utilized in deployment of wireless broadband telecommunications networks.
2. Description of Related Art
In the telecommunications industry, the term ‘provisioning’ commonly refers to the process of preparing and equipping a network to allow it to provide new services to end-users (customers). In wireless telecommunications networks, directional antennae, which radiate more in one direction than in another, are often used to enhance carrier signal transmission and reception. By careful arrangement of length, spacing, and orientation, as well as through the addition of rods, loops, or plates, antennae with desired directional properties can be created.
When two or more simple antennae are combined to produce a specific directional radiation pattern, the result is an antenna array (antenna bank). The directionality of an antenna array arises from the spatial relationships and electrical feed relationships between individual antennae or directional radiating elements of the array. Through ‘beamforming,’ a term referring to a signal processing technique used in sensor arrays for directional signal transmission or reception, including radio or sound waves, spatial selectivity is achieved by using adaptive or fixed receive/transmit beam patterns. The resulting improvement over that of an omni-directional reception and transmission signal is known as receive/transmit gain.
Wireless broadband deployment of telecommunications networks can be costly and time-consuming when traditional manual methods of provisioning directional antennas are used. Typically, the provisioning of directional antennas to achieve optimal signal strength from a given cellular carrier requires coordination between a field technician who can manipulate manually the two or more directional radiating elements within an antenna array to produce a specific directional radiation pattern, and a central technician who can evaluate the results of different configurations on overall signal strength while communicating with the field technician via radio, cell phone, or other means as the directional radiating elements are manipulated. As a consequence, provisioning of antennae must be carried out serially rather than in parallel, such that only one antenna system may be provisioned at a time in a single discrete remote location. What is needed is a means for automating the provisioning process to allow the provisioning of any number of antennae in any number of discrete locations remotely.